eBay's 'Kijiji' Positions Itself Against Craigslist
Monday, July 9, 2007
Kijiji, a colorful classified advertising service owned by eBay, is positioning itself as an alternative to the drabber craigslist, of which eBay holds a 25 percent stake.
It is perhaps eBay's least-known brand. Kijiji has been available in Europe and parts of Asia since 2005. It's now available in the United States.
Are there possible uses for Kijiji in Internet Marketing? Will Kijiji become a force in Internet Marketing?
Kijiji essentially is a free online classified advertising service. Internet Marketers who've found a traffic source on craigslist are apt to give Kijiiji a whirl.
Kijiji -- how many other words have five consecutive letters that have to be dotted? -- has a catchy name.
Users will find that posting an ad is almost ridiculously simple. Just enter your ad copy, confirm your email address, and your ad will be online.
You don't even have to register, although I recommend registering. It makes your ads easier to manage and gives you certain monitoring advantages.
I posted Kijiji ads in New York City (Brooklyn) and Pittsburgh today, using different ad copy for both.
EDIT (5:15 P.M., July 9.): With respect to the sentence immediately above, I've just been informed by Kijiji that you can't post ads in more than one city: "Since Kijiji is meant to be a local trading site, we do not allow posting of ads in multiple states, or from outside the state in which you live."
Kijiji features a WYSIWYG text editor. Users can choose from among five fonts. There also is built-in ability to select text colors and perform basic word-processing functions such as centering text.
Users may upload up to four pictures for use in the ad.
One thing not apt to please Internet Marketers experimenting with Kijiji is the absence of a way to work with html from within the editor. There appears to be no way to make a link clickable, although perhaps that capability will be added later.
One potential workaround is simply to ask visitors to copy and paste into their browser location bars the URL you post in the ad.
Because it's eBay, it's also possible that Internet Marketers who use Kijiji could gain an SEO advantage.
I can't say for certain yet because I haven't tested how quickly ads get indexed or played with keyword combinations.
Ads can be posted at Kijiji classified ad sites in numerous cities. Users simply select the category and type up the ad.
Some cities have virtually no listings in some categories. That may not turn out to be as bad as it sounds; it actually could result in a competitive advantage for some users.
Registered Kijiji users get a back office that permits you to edit ads and monitor statistics, including the number of unique clicks on your ad.
Kijiji is the correct spelling. Kajiji or Kageegee or Kajeejee or Kiji or Kijee Kagee or Kajee are not.
Kijiji versus Craigs List? There's room for both of them.
Craigslist has an advantage over Kijiji for now because the brand is better known in the United States.
But Kijiji could close the market-share gap with Craigs List and narrow its advantage in the coming months, especially if eBay throws its full weight behind Kijiji and does a powerful tie-in with Skype and PayPal.
posted by Patrick Pretty @ 3:47 PM,
